A SAN Fernando, Cebu councilor with alleged ties to illegal drugs was killed by two unidentified men inside his parents’ house in Barangay Poblacion, Ramon Magsaysay town, Zamboanga del Sur on Saturday morning, Feb. 23.
The victim was identified as Alfonso Donaire IV.
Donaire was the fourth public official from San Fernando to have been killed by unidentified assailants.
Following Donaire’s death, San Fernando mayoral candidate and businessman Ruben Feliciano warned that more town officials with links to the illegal drug trade were next.
The Police Regional Office 9, in a press release, said Donaire was unaware that his killers were right behind him on board a motorcycle while he was walking to his parents’ house.
When he entered the house around 6:30 a.m., two men barged in and shot him several times with a .45 pistol and a 9mm pistol.
Police said the gunmen fled toward the direction of Molave town in the same province.
Recovered from the scene were three empty shells of a .45 pistol and two empty shells of a 9mm pistol.
Police have yet to determine the motive behind the killing.
Sudden appearance
A month before he fled to Zamboanga del Sur, Donaire and fellow councilor Edwin Villaver no longer appeared before their regular weekly sessions in San Fernando.
The two men’s sudden disappearance was reportedly connected to the deaths of fellow councilor Reneboy Dacalos, former Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president Johnny Arriesgado and ABC president Ricardo Reluya Jr, the husband of Mayor Lakambini Reluya.
Last Jan. 10, Dacalos was sitting outside his brother-in-law’s store in Barangay South Poblacion when two unidentified men on board a motorcycle gunned him down.
On Jan. 16, Arriesgado was driving home to Barangay Magsico when unidentified men on board motorcycles shot him in front of a cement manufacturing plant in Barangay South Poblacion.
On Jan. 22, the mayor, her husband and four others were on board a van when they were ambushed by four unidentified men in Barangay Linao, Talisay City.
The mayor and her two bodyguards survived, but her husband and two members of her staff did not.
Feliciano, who is running for mayor against Lakambini in May, said the officials were murdered because of their involvement in illegal drugs and because of their ties to self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones.
“That is what I have been saying all along. Those involved in illegal drugs will eventually receive the full force of the law,” Feliciano told SunStar Cebu.
Warning
Reluya’s husband earlier accused Feliciano of threatening public officials in San Fernando through a “kill list” that the businessman allegedly posted on Facebook.
Although Feliciano continued to deny the existence of the kill list, he said Donaire and the other slain officials deserved their fate.
Feliciano said that before the filing of the certificate of candidacies (COC) last year, he warned Donaire and other public officials allegedly involved in illegal drugs that they would die if they pushed through with their respective bids.
“I told all of them to withdraw their candidacy or die,” he said.
He also assured that more public officials involved in the illegal drug trade, including barangay officials, would die if they didn’t withdraw from the race.
“They will only destroy the future of San Fernando. Before they could do that, I will destroy them. I will kill them. This is going to be a bloody war against illegal drugs,” Feliciano said.